Entering author names in EndNote references

Author names - last name and first name(s)

It's usually best to enter individual author names in the format Last name - comma - First name(s). If
there is a single comma in the name, as entered, EndNote will always assume that any text
preceding that comma is the author's last name, and text following the comma is the author's first
name(s) (and/or initials) ...

Entering author names in EndNote references

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Entering author names in EndNote references

Alternatively ...
If you wish, you can also enter an author name using the format First name(s) - Last name, with no
comma anywhere in the name as entered. If you do it this way, EndNote will consider the last word
in the entry to be the author's last name, and any word(s) or initials preceding it to be the first
name(s) and/or initials...

What about a name like Charles de Gaulle?

In such cases the difference between the two entry formats can be critical. In the two versions of
General de Gaulle's name illustrated below, Endnote will consider the first to be an author whose
first name is "Charles" and whose last name is "de Gaulle". It will consider the second to be
someone whose last name is "Gaulle" and first names "Charles de". Why is this critical? If that
author subsequently appears in a bibliographic list sorted alphabetically by last name, the first will
appear in the "D"s (i.e. as "de Gaulle, Charles", tusually the preferred way), but the second will
appear in the "G"s ("Gaulle, Charles de", which most editors will probably reject).

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Entering author names in EndNote references

Complex names
One aspect of this distinction which often gives trouble to beginners is the entry of relatively complex
author "names" of various corporations or organisations - e.g. "U. S. Department of the Interior". If
these are entered exactly as written they will usually generate problems when EndNote attempts to
include them in a formatted bibliography. Consider that particular example, and the problems that
might be produced if it is entered in its simple form, without any included commas ...

What's the problem? What to do about it?

Following the rules outlined above, EndNote will decide that this must be an author whose last name
is "Interior" and first names are "U. S. Department of the" (because there is no comma in the name,
as entered - so the last word must be the last name and the rest must be the first name(s)). The
problem actually becomes more than just a question of where the name is entered in a bibliographic
list. Many bibliographic styles, for example, will specify that author first names in a compiled
bibliography should be reduced to initials, which EndNote will do automatically if the rules of the
formatting style it is using so decree. This author will then appear in the list in the "I"s, which maybe
is not so bad in itself, but in fact it will appear as "Interior, U. S. D. o. t." when the first "names" are
initialised (or even as "Interior, USDot" if the style specifies no periods or spaces following first name
initials).
The solution? Simple - put one single comma at the end of the name. EndNote will then treat the
whole entry as a last name, with no first name(s). It will then handle the whole name correctly, as a
single unit.

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Entering author names in EndNote references

Multiple commas
Generally speaking, you should always be careful about where you place a single comma in an
author name, as described above. You should be VERY careful about entering a name containing
more than one comma - the results are not always predictable. One case where you might need to
use two commas, however, is that of names with suffix "titles" like "John Black Jr" or "James White
III". These should entered in the form Last Name - comma - First Name - comma - Title. In such
cases EndNote will format the Title (e.g. "Jr" or "III" in these examples) exactly as entered. Note that
these comments refer to what we might think of as suffix titles, as in the two quoted examples. They
don't apply to prefix titles such as "Sir Charles Cholmondeley", which can be entered in either of the
two standard formats ("Sir Charles Cholmondeley" or "Cholmondeley, Sir Charles") without problems
- the prefix title is simply treated as a first name.
Note: In this uncommon case a problem will emerge, however, if the formatting style in use specifies
inititals only for first names, in which case the example will appear in the bibliography as
"Cholmondeley, S. C.", which accords with the style specifications but not with common use. As far
as we are aware the only solution to this problem would be to edit the bibliography manually after
formatting.)

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Entering author names in EndNote references

You just have to have multiple commas anyway?

Another case for multiple commas is that of the entry of names that are, for example, addressinclusive and therefore already include one or more commas - e.g. corporate "names" such as
"Apple Computer Inc, Cupertino, California". If you enter that with the commas, as shown, EndNote
will conclude that this is someone whose first name is "Cupertino", last name "Apple Computer Inc"
and title "California" (as in the Titled examples above). The solution again is to add an extra comma in this case use two consecutive commas in place of the first comma, entering the name as "Apple
Computer Inc,, Cupertino, California". EndNote will then treat anything preceding the double
comma as as a last name, followed by a blank first name. It will then append the remainder as if it
were a suffix "title" - including any further commas (in which it will have no formatting interest).

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Entering author names in EndNote references

Multiple author names

Multiple author names must be entered in the Author field on separate lines, NOT following each
other on one line, separated by commas or semicolons. EndNote needs to know exactly where one
author name ends and the next begins, and separating them with commas, for example, is obviously
not a good way to go, as demonstrated above. The simplest, and therefore in EndNote the only, way
is to place each author name on its own line. Name formats can be mixed if you wish, as in the
following example, but it's probably wisest to get accustomed to the routine preferential use of one
format as much as possible.
Caution: For references with more than one author, editor etc., enter all of the author names on
separate lines. Do not enter "et al." after one, two or three authors, as the fancy takes you, and do
not enter "et al." by itself on a new line. When EndNote formats a reference list, as in a bibliography,
it works with a formal style definition that tells it (along with many other things) just how and when to
use "et al.". To do this properly it needs to know all of the author names so it can decide whether it
should condense an author list, and if so exactly how to condense it.

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Entering author names in EndNote references

Editor and other similar names

All of the "rules" described above for author names apply equally well to Editor names in EndNote
fields such as Edfitor of Edited Books, and to any other fields in any reference type that include
entries that EndNote parses as individual names - that is, to any reference field that corresponds to
the Generic Author, Secondary Author, Tertiary Author or Subsidiary Author fields. For example, the
default Conference Proceedings reference type uses these four fields, if required, for entry of
Author(s), Editor(s), Series Editor(s) and Sponsor respectively. In practice most Conference
Proceedings reference entries will not actually use more than one or two of these fields, but for those
that do any entries must conform to the name format rules described above:

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